The Associated Press filed a petition with the Washington court to quash the claim of the owner of the "Basic Element" Oleg Deripaska. This is reported on the website of the agency itself.

The billionaire sued the US news agency in mid-May. The claims of the businessman were caused by the material of the journalists of AP Jeff Horwitz and Chad Dey from March 22, where he spoke about his connections with the head of the US presidential campaign Donald Trump Paul Manafort. The article stated that in 2006 Manafort concluded a contract with Deripaska, in which the ex-ally of the American president received from a Russian businessman $ 50 million for five years.

According to AP, Manafort allegedly developed a strategy to promote the interests of the Russian government in America, Europe and the countries of the former USSR. Manafort himself confirmed the fact of cooperation with Deripaska, but stated that his work would be unfairly assessed as illegal, and it did not include promotion of Russia's political interests.

Deripaska also rejected these suspicions and sued. He accuses the AP of slander and a deliberate attempt to blacken his entrepreneurial activities. According to the businessman, he is afraid that the article may form a false impression on the public about his involvement in violations during Trump's election campaign.

The AP stressed that they have all the evidence, including interviews with persons involved in the transfer of money to Manafort, business records, including business strategies and written evidence of millions of international bank transfers.

The relationship between the Russian aluminum tycoon and the Western press is not limited to this claim. In the New York Times on May 27 an article was published under the headline "The Russian seeks immunity to help in congressional hearings" ("Russian Seeks Immunity to Help Congress Panels"). The newspaper claimed that Deripaska has information about Russia's interference in the American elections, but is not ready to provide them before he is guaranteed immunity. The millionaire stated that he really wanted to cooperate with the Congress, but not in exchange for immunity from prosecution, but to protect himself from attacks on the press and anonymous members of the House.

In October 2002, Deripaska sued the Frankfurter District Court in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung because of the article "The Battle for the Forests of Russia" and won the trial. In the material, in particular, it was said that the billionaire was "afraid of Russia because of the crude manner of doing business", and the firm reception of the company under his control became "the hostile takeover of prosperous enterprises and the displacement of their owners." The court found the published information unreliable and banned the newspaper from reproducing this information.

Manafort directed the Trump election headquarters from April to August 2016. He was removed from office after the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine published documents that, being an adviser to Yanukovych in 2007-2012, received from his administration almost $ 13 million and helped the Party of Regions to withdraw to the US a minimum of $ 2.2 million.